Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves (The Three Crosses),

1653–55

Rembrandt’s genius as a printmaker and skill as an interpreter of the Bible coalesce in The Three Crosses. One of the artist’s greatest works in any medium, this powerful and profound depiction of the Crucifixion demonstrates his expressive use of drypoint, which he began adding to his etchings in the 1640s. He was the first artist to fully exploit the dark, velvety richness and painterly effect of this technique, created by the inked burr, or metal residue, left by the fine lines scratched directly into the copper plate with a needle. Using the burin, or engraving tool, in conjunction with drypoint, Rembrandt obscured much of the foreground action with a driving black rain of long slanting strokes. Vast, apocalyptic beams of light pierce the leaden sky, falling on the crucified Christ—the emotional and compositional focus of the scene.